The present invention relates to a disk cartridge incorporating a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk or the like.
Conventionally, a disk such as an optical disk or the like is used in a disk-shaped recording medium. These disks are frequently used by being incorporated in a disk cartridge to prevent recording reproducing error from causing by adhesion of dust and dirt or the like to a record face.
In the meantime, according to a disk-shaped recording medium, when the record density remains the same, naturally, the larger the diameter, the larger the record capacity. Meanwhile, when a disk-shaped recording medium mentioned above is used as a recording medium of a portable recording/reproducing device, for example, a video camera or the like, a small-sized disk is excellent in portability. Therefore, disks having different sizes may be used for a disk of a portable device and a disk of a stationary device. In this case, a small-sized one is naturally used for a disk cartridge used in the portable disk. When the recording system remains the same and the size of disk differs, if the disk can be mounted to a recording/reproducing device, record/reproduction can be carried out by recording/reproducing means installed to the recording/reproducing device. Therefore, by taking only a disk from a small-sized disk cartridge and switching it to a disk cartridge having an outer configuration the same as that of a disk cartridge of a stationary device, the disk for potable use can be recorded/reproduced by a recording/reproducing apparatus for stationary use.
As a structure for taking out a disk from a disk cartridge, there is provided a method of arranging a portion capable of inserting and detaching a disk at a portion of a disk cartridge as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-5-242626.
FIG. 20 shows a conventional structure of taking out a disk from a disk cartridge. A disk insertion and detachment port 12c is installed at a position other than a position arranged with a shutter 3c and a disk insertion and detachment port opening and closing member 8c is arranged there. Normally, according to the disk insertion and detachment port opening and closing member 8c, a locking claw 9 is fitted to a locking hole 13 installed to a disk cartridge 1c and the disk insertion and detachment port 12c is closed. In taking out a disk 4, the locking claw 9 is disengaged from the locking hole 13 and the disk insertion and detachment port opening and closing member 8c is rotated centering on a fulcrum, the disk insertion and detachment port 12c is opened and insertion and detachment of the disk 4 is carried out. In this case, the taken out disk 4 is handled by the hand and accordingly, the record face may be touched erroneously by the hand and may be contaminated thereby.
Further, the disk cartridge may be provided with information inherent to an incorporated disk. In that case, holes or notches are provided on the surface of the cartridge and information of the disk is transmitted to the device side by presence or absence of the holes or the notches. As information provided to a disk cartridge, there are, for example, information which can be switched by a user as in prevention of recording to prevent erroneous recording and information which has been determined from the start in respect of an incorporated disk as in differentiation of a disk for music from a disk for recording computer data. When the disk is moved between different cartridges, according to the conventional method, only the disk is moved and information provided to a disk cartridge mentioned above is not moved.
Further, in recent years, a disk both faces of which are used as signal faces as in DVD-ROM/RAM has been spreading. In the case of such a disk, a printed face is difficult to set on the disk and accordingly, a user is difficult to grasp later information concerning the disk, that is, what file name of data, software name, controller, date and so on are written therein. When a disk is moved between different cartridges, according to the conventional method, only the disk is moved, the disk is difficult to discern when it is taken out from the disk cartridge and a disk to be exchanged may be taken wrongly.